This invention relates to washing systems for dispensing liquid cleaners, typically liquid or cream soaps.
Washing systems for dispensing soap and/or lotion provide convenience for the users of public and semi-public facilities. In addition to convenience, these systems allow individual users to dispense an appropriate amount of liquid to address their needs, thereby reducing waste and further eliminating sanitary concerns that might be introduced with publicly shared supplies, such as, for example, bar soap.
A typical washing system includes a container for the soap and a manually operated valve which may be an off-on valve or a pump valve. Ordinarily the container is mounted directly on the valve structure. A variety of such dispensers are in common use today.
When there are multiple wash basins, a dispenser may be provided with every wash basin. Soap and/or lotion is provided to the dispensers in a variety of manners. For instance, in some systems, each individual dispenser has its own supply container. Dispensing systems utilizing an independent reservoir per dispenser, however, have increased unit costs and maintenance costs.
In another type of washing system, a plurality of the dispensers are served from a single container. In one such system, sometimes referred to as a gravity soap system, a liquid reservoir is mounted on the wall above a plurality of basins, with a dispenser positioned at each basin and fed by a line from the reservoir. The head pressure of the liquid in the container above the dispensers causes fluid to flow by gravity into each of the dispensers to fill the valve cavity. Liquid is dispensed by actuating the open-shut valve to empty the valve cavity into the operator""s hand. When the valve is closed, the cavity is refilled by gravity flow from the reservoir. While this system works adequately when the reservoir is positioned directly above the dispensers, it is not satisfactory when the reservoir is positioned at a distance from the dispenser or below the dispenser or at the same level as the dispenser, as liquid will not flow from the reservoir to the dispenser. Also, of course, it requires that the reservoir be significantly above the dispensers in order to produce the necessary head pressure.
In another configuration, sometimes referred to as an under-the-counter system, the reservoir is positioned directly under the counter. In these systems the supply container is coupled to a single line or multiple lines that feed the individual pump type dispensers mounted above the counter. With this type of construction, the reservoir is filled by removing one of the dispensers and pouring the liquid through the dispenser housing into the reservoir below the counter. After the refill operation, each of the pump dispensers must be primed by repeatedly actuating the pump mechanism. Typically about 75 to 110 strokes are required per dispenser to adequately prime the dispenser to start pumping.
Existing multiple valve, single reservoir systems have several disadvantages. The valves are high cost, designed to withstand a high hydraulic head. The piping system is made of costly metallic pipes either inside the wall, requiring early plumbing, or exposed non-esthetically pleasing plumbing. The soap used has to be a water thin vegetable soap, to run in the pipes and meet the valve design criteria. Such soap, once popular, is now outdated and currently replaced with lotion type soap, which is much more difficult to draw through the pipes. In addition, these systems empty the supply line when the reservoir is empty. Thus, the lines must be reprimed. If the lines are long, more effort is required to reprime them.
A problem encountered by all of the above mentioned current feed systems is that they fail to provide the dispensing liquid in an ongoing manner; namely, they fail to provide a continuous and uninterrupted supply of dispensing liquid for the users. Indeed, in situations wherein the dispensers are refilled after they are empty, an interim period exists where some users will not be provided with the dispensing liquid. Of course, the supply reservoir can be replenished prior to becoming entirely empty, but this results in increased maintenance costs and in instances where the supply reservoirs are sealed containers, the remaining dispensing liquid is wasted.
Although current systems attempt to provide an ample supply of dispensing liquid, none of the current systems address the issue of providing an economical and continuous, uninterrupted supply of dispensing liquid. Further, the current systems have increased maintenance costs and inconvenience to the end users. As such, a need exists in the industry for a feed system that is capable of providing a relatively uninterrupted supply of dispensing liquid to the users. Further, a need exists for a system that does not require repriming of the dispensers if the supply is interrupted once the supply of dispensing liquid is replaced. A need further exists for a feed system that is capable of dispensing the lotion type soaps that are common today over long distances.
The washing system of the present invention is designed for use with a sealed, large capacity cleanser reservoir in the form of a flexible or collapsible container which can be located at any height and in any area. The reservoir provides the cleanser to a plurality of individual dispensers, which may be attached directly to a wall or other support, with the dispenser pump itself within a housing for improved vandal resistance. Inexpensive flexible tubing serves to connect the cleanser container to the individual dispensers which can utilize multi-viscosity, low cost, bulk liquid soap from containers which can provide a month""s supply. Actuation of the pump at the dispenser deposits the liquid directly into the user""s hand. The amount of cleanser in the reservoir can be periodically checked and the reservoir replaced when the content falls to a predetermined level, or the reservoir can be replaced periodically on a scheduled maintenance event. Alternatively, one can wait until the reservoir is empty and then install a new reservoir without requiring re-priming.
Preferred embodiments of the invention includes a washing system for dispensing a liquid cleanser from a collapsible container, with a plurality of dispensers, each dispenser having a positive displacement pump, mounting means for mounting the pump on a dispenser support, and connection means for connecting the pump to a flexible supply line, a container support for supporting a collapsible container of liquid cleanser, and a flexible supply line for connecting the collapsible container to each of the pumps, with a one-way valve in the line for blocking fluid flow to the collapsible container while permitting fluid flow from the collapsible container to the dispensers.
One embodiment of the washing system includes a cabinet with the container support positioned in the cabinet, with an access door for removing a used collapsible container and placing a new container in the container support, and a lock for securing the access door on the cabinet. In an alternative embodiment the container may be placed in a remote room.
In another preferred embodiment, the dispensers are mounted on a wall and the supply line is behind the wall. The dispensers may be mounted on a wall above a counter, with the container support means below the counter, and with the supply line behind the wall between the dispensers and the container support means. Alternatively the dispensers may be mounted on a wall in a first room, with the container support means in a second room, and with the supply line behind the wall between the dispensers and a cabinet support means in the second room. In another alternative embodiment, the dispenser may be mounted on a counter, with the container under the counter.
Each of the dispensers preferably includes a tubular casing with an inlet tube as the connection means for slidingly receiving an end of the flexible supply line and with the positive displacement pump slidably inserted into the casing, with the positive displacement pump having a cylinder with a piston cavity and a piston sliding in the cavity, means defining an inlet opening in the cylinder for fluid flow from the flexible supply line through the inlet tube into the piston cavity, a spring in the piston cavity for urging the piston outward, a one-way valve positioned between the inlet opening of the cylinder and spring, another one-way valve positioned between the spring and piston, with the piston having an outlet flow passage defining a flow path from the flexible supply line through the casing inlet tube, cylinder and piston cavity to the exterior of the dispenser.
Each of the dispenser pumps may further include a first retainer means for fixing the cylinder in the casing, first sliding seal means between the cylinder and casing for blocking fluid flow from the casing around the cylinder, second sliding seal means between the piston and the interior of the cylinder for blocking fluid flow from the cylinder around the piston, and second retainer means for retaining the piston in the cylinder while permitting reciprocation of the new piston in the cylinder during fluid dispensing.
In an alternative embodiment, the washing system includes a first reservoir, a second reservoir and a fitting, wherein the fitting couples, in fluid communication, the first reservoir to the second reservoir, and further couples, in fluid communication, the first and second reservoirs to a dispenser. Preferably, the reservoirs are positioned such that the larger reservoir is placed above the smaller reservoir. An advantage of this feature is that the dispensing liquid will fall by gravity into the lower reservoir such that the dispensing liquid in the lower reservoir is not diminished, thereby eliminating the need to replace or refill the lower reservoir.
Preferably, the first and/or the second reservoir is controlled with a one-way valve, piston type valve or other valve that automatically caps off the supply line when the reservoir is disconnected from the rest of the system. An advantage of this feature is that the supply line remains filled with lotion, thereby eliminating the problem of repriming the system whenever the dispensing liquid is replaced. Thus, the system provides continuous service and immediate use without the need of repriming.
Another feature of the invention is the use of noncollapsible flexible tubing. An advantage of this feature is that the reservoirs can be placed in substantially any location without being limited by the placement of the tubing. A further advantage is that the noncollapsible tubing prevents the dispensing liquid from being completely drawn out of the tubing when the reservoirs are empty, thereby, further eliminating the problem of repriming.
The reservoirs of the instant invention can be of varying volumetric sizes. This feature allows the system to accommodate a multitude of space configurations.
The above and other advantages of embodiments of this invention will be apparent from the following more detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is intended that the above advantages can be achieved separately by different aspects of the invention and that additional advantages of this invention will involve various combinations of the above independent advantages such that synergistic benefits may be obtained from combined techniques.